Monthly Archives: September 2022
September 30, 2022 — Steven Hayward
California apparently didn’t get the Biden Administration memo about the good news of falling gasoline prices. Here’s the price chart for my local gas station on Monday: And here’s the same station today: (Fortunately, I drive two diesel cars, which both get better mileage than equivalent gasoline cars.) I asked the station manager about it, and he told me their wholesale supplier has hiked prices *four times* this week. I
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September 30, 2022 — John Hinderaker
I hope our readers will indulge the attention we have paid to the Feeding Our Future scandal here in Minnesota. The issue has, I think, national significance as it is the biggest single fraud that has so far been uncovered in connection with the trillions of dollars that the federal government shoveled out the door, ostensibly as “covid relief.” The scandal–$250 million stolen, and counting–reminds us of one of the
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September 30, 2022 — John Hinderaker
France’s Emmanuel Macron, like a number of other world leaders, has denounced Italy and its incoming Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. I will chalk that up as a mistake. I don’t think a lot of people have seen this amateurishly-filmed response by Meloni, but it is scorching. It is not hard to understand why colorless leftist leaders fear Meloni and denounce her as a “fascist.” I think that means she gives
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September 30, 2022 — Steven Hayward
With some of the leading National Conservative intellectuals—especially Yoram Hazony—casting shade on the imputed Lockeanism of the American Founding, it is worth recurring to just one of Willmoore Kendall’s fertile provocations about this point from more than 50 years ago: “The emphasis of Locke’s political theory is, ultimately, egalitarian, since if the consent of all is necessary for the ‘compact,’ then each man’s consent is as ‘good’ as any other
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September 30, 2022 — Steven Hayward
Most news accounts of inflation report chiefly on the aggregate “headline” rate, lately above 8 percent. But when you break out price levels by subcategories, you can see that many of the things that consumer spend most of their income for have risen much more than 8 percent over the last year (especially fuel oil, which many households in the northeast use for winter heating), suggesting that real inflation is
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September 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
A week ago Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann called out the Star Tribune by name in a a press release he authorized regarding the Feeding Our Future case. This is the key passage bearing on the Star Tribune: On February 26, 2022, the Star Tribune reported on a federal investigation of FOF. The article included the following false statement: “In April 2021, Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann told
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September 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
President Biden’s student loan giveaway is blatantly illegal, but standing presents an obstacle to lawsuits challenging it. I noted the lawsuit filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of Frank Garrison earlier this week. The Indiana federal district court has already denied Garrison’s motion for preliminary relief in an order that casts doubt on Garrison’s theory of standing. Now six states with Republican governors and attorneys general have commenced
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September 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
The point of this series — and I do have one — is to invite the kind of derision of Democrats that the Democrat/media establishment routinely inflicts on their political opponents (though without the justification). Raygun! Bushitler! It’s almost enough to make a sane person doubt the Trump-Hitler hysteria as just a little over the top. By contrast, Joe Biden visibly deteriorates before our eyes. Kamala Harris is a bona
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September 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
NRO’s Nate Hochman obtained a copy of Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho’s keynote address to the Kentucky Chapters Conference of the Federalist Society and reports on it in “Federal Judge Vows to Stop Hiring Law Clerks from Yale Law School.” Judge Ho’s address — “Agreeing to Disagree — Restoring America by Resisting Cancel Culture” — cited a number of high-profile examples of speakers being shouted down or otherwise censored at
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September 30, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Ammo Grrrlll is feeling THE SPIRIT OF 76. She writes: Another month down, and another month down, and another one bites the dust. And by this time next Friday, another birthday as well. 75 was startling enough; 76 is just ridiculous. I keep thinking of trombones for some reason. And, as it happens, this year my birthday falls on Yom Kippur. Nothing more festive than a 25-hour Fast of Atonement.
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September 29, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Vice, which I take it is some kind of news site, did a piece on a sex offender who was wronged by society and now is being “reintegrated.” Only…it turns out there is a reason why he ran afoul of the law in the first place: Make sure you see the follow-up https://t.co/a9PUKiTiu9 — Karol Markowicz (@karol) September 28, 2022 Libs never learn. They are like Charlie Brown condemned to
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September 29, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Conservative electoral victories across Europe have the continent’s left-wing establishment nervous. New British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her chancellor have announced a program of tax cuts intended to incentivize growth in Britain’s economy. Who knows? It has worked before, it may work again. But the International Monetary Fund isn’t waiting to find out. It demands that the U.K. change its announced policy to conform to liberal norms. The Telegraph
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September 29, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Congressman Jim Jordan tells Fox News that the FBI is purging conservative employees: The FBI is allegedly engaging in a “purge” of employees with conservative viewpoints and retaliating against whistleblowers who have made protected disclosures to Congress by revoking security clearances, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan told Fox News Digital. Jordan, R-Ohio, said that more than a dozen FBI whistleblowers have come to him
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September 29, 2022 — Steven Hayward
William Galston, the liberal columnist for the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page (they always like to have one around) writing every so gently yesterday on the need for Democrats to pay attention to the legitimate grievances of populism lest they get buried in a populist electoral tide: “Powerful forces in the Democratic coalition oppose crafting the sort of moderate policies that could win back these [working class] voters. But if
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September 29, 2022 — Steven Hayward
What if we applied anti-trust principles against concentration in industry and market collusion to higher education? We might very well conclude that the ivy league should be broken up. The figure below, from Nature magazine, shows that a tiny handful of universities produce the large majority of college professors today. What this means for intellectual diversity, and the competition of ideas and methodologies, is pretty clear, since most academic departments
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September 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday at the White House conference on hunger etc. President Biden sought to acknowledge deceased Rep. Jackie Walorski among those in attendance for the event (White House transcript here): And I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Representative McGovern, Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative — Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I didn’t think she was — she wasn’t going to be here —
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September 29, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I’m scheduled to join Jon Justice on KTLK this morning at about 8:35 to discuss the massive $250 million free lunch fraud. The $250 million represents the payment of federal funds administered by the Minnesota Department of Education. The show can be live streamed here. I want to compile related materials for listeners in this post. United States Attorney Andrew Luger announced charges against 47 defendants in six indictments and
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